Friday, April 8, 2011

Periodic Wizardry - Tommie Copper

2 disclaimers: 1) the product I'm reviewing today I received for free. I was the "Fan of the Week" for Tommie Copper. I had my choice of either a Knee, Calf, or Ankle sleeve. It was only after I found out that I had won and before I wore their product that I told them I would write a review. 2) I am not a doctor, nor do I even work in a health related setting. Everything in this post is strictly my opinion based on schooling I received over 10 years ago, some research, and personal experience. If you have questions about your health, talk to your own doctor, not some Internet hack as myself. This blog is not intended to diagnose or treat anything.

Now that the formalities are out of the way & I have destroyed any/all credibility for myself, lets get to it.

My experience with this Tommie Copper goes like this: they found me on Twitter because I tweet about running. When they found me, I didn't actually think that Tommie Copper could be someone's name so I dug a little deeper. Also, their website wasn't too much help as it is under construction. As it turns out they are a start-up company so its understandable. What I found from my investigation (read: google search) was that they are in the business of pain management through use of their compression sleeves that are magically infused with Copper.

Now really quick, here's some quick background info on copper and its presumed benefits to a human person. Copper is a metal that is not produced by the human body, but the body uses the crap out of it to help perform its daily tasks. We can find it in a bunch of stuff like meat, seafood, beans, whole grains, wheat bran, almonds, avocados, barley, garlic, nuts, oats, & everyone's favorite blackstrap molasses. I just really thought blackstrap molasses was a cool word and it sounds delicious. Copper is also delivered to the body by our drinking water with the copper pipes in your house. It can also be taken in through the skin. The skin method is what Tommie Copper is utilizing.

Now once it gets in you body Copper is supposed to do all kinds of good stuff for you. However, being lazy I am not going to list all of them. The main benefit we'll talk about today and what this review is about is Joint and/or Muscle Pain reduction.

As mentioned before I was given a choice of a Knee, Calf, or Ankle Sleeve from Tommie Copper (they also make shirts). I chose the knee for a couple reasons. I have been experiencing some soreness in my left knee after running recently. I don't think its too serious and it seems to be more muscle tightness related rather than a tear of some kind. At least that's what the pain feels like. Also my wife had surgery last summer on her meniscus in her right knee and also has a popliteal cyst in there that for some reason the Doctor didn't remove when he was doing the surgery. Regardless, she still has some pain associated with that knee. It is constantly sore and stiff and she really can't get another surgery because she's pregnant. So this knee sleeve would be beneficial to both of us.

The Sleeve arrived and at first I was a bit shocked at how much it was just like normal breathable fabric. One would think that if something had copper in it, there would be a greater thickness or rigidity to it. So honestly, I kind of laughed thinking "Well I'm glad I got this for free." Then about 2 weeks ago I was working from home and it was the day after a pretty good run. I had some pain and hadn't had time to try out the sleeve yet. So I slapped it on my left knee for several hours. To my surprise within the first 20 min of putting it on, my knee felt different. A bit more energized. After an hour or so of sitting with it on, I went to walk around, and my knee pain was less severe. Not 100% gone but less severe. I thought "There may be something to this." So after a 4 or so hours I then moved the sleeve over to my right calf which was sore also from the run the day before, and I received the same outcome. Less pain, more flexibility, etc. The knee sleeve wasn't the greatest fit around the bottom of my calf but it worked fine. The next day when I woke up my pain had subsided enough to where I didn't wear it into work the next day. Test #1 & #2 passed.

Late one night last week my wife asked me "Where's that knee brace?" I had told her about it when it originally came in the mail & told her about the health benefits that were touted. She then put it on her knee the entire next day and wore it to work. She had the same experience that I did and was thrilled the pain had subsided. Test #3 passed.

So w are 3 for 3 in this house with Tommie Copper and continue to wear the sleeve when we have pain. It works and I would highly recommend this product to any of you that have some discomfort in your joints or muscles. I would rank this product a "Cuban with Smoked Provalone" on our sandwich scale, but reserve the right to upgrade when I have chronic issues and rely on Tommie Copper every day.

I spoke with a representative over at Tommie Copper and she advised that the site will be going live near the end of April or beginning of May, then the general public can go nuts on this stuff. For more info on them see the links below.

I am really excited about this knee sleeve. I just ordered it today! I am training for the NYC Marathon and developed patellar tendinitis in my right knee from overtraining at CrossFit. I am hoping this is a miracle product for me. I have not been able to run for the last week and have been frustrated!! I intend to blog about the product if it works for me!! - Wendi